During the lifespan of an ink jet printhead, air or gas bubbles develop in the ink and coalesce into larger bubbles. As the bubbles form and coalesce, they tend to accumulate in filter areas and ink feed channels of the ink jet pen. If the amount of air or gas bubbles increases significantly, performance of the pen may be affected. For disposable pens, air accumulation is not typically a significant problem. However, for longer life permanent or semi-permanent pens, and for high quality, high speed pens, substantial air or gas bubble accumulation may significantly affect printhead performance by causing misfiring or ink flow blockages.
A primary source of air or gas bubbles in the ink feed port of an ink jet pen arises from the removal and connection of ink cartridges with the pen. If a spent ink cartridge is allowed to run dry of ink, air will fill the ink feed port connecting the cartridge to the pen. Even if the ink cartridge is not run dry of ink, a certain amount of air is introduced into the ink feed port each time the ink cartridge is connected and/or disconnected from the pen. Some of the air or gas bubbles which make there way into the ink flow channels of the pen are removed from the printhead through the ejection orifices, however, a portion of the air or gas bubbles finds its way back through the ink feed paths into the ink filter area of the pen.
Priming the pen by ejecting ink from the printhead may remove air or gas bubbles from the printhead itself, however, there may still be a substantial amount of air in the filter area of the pen or cartridge.
An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method with improves the operation of an ink jet pen.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for filtering ink for an ink jet printer.
Another object of the invention is to provide a filtration and air removal system which can be easily connected to an ink jet pen.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method for filtering ink and removing air from the filter device of an ink jet printer.
Another object of the invention is to provide method for connecting an ink filtration system to an ink jet pen which simplifies the manufaturing steps thereof.